Benjamin Crump, a Tallahassee, Fla. attorney who has handled many high-profile cases—including representing the family in the Trayvon Martin murder case in Sanford, Fla.—was the featured speaker at the Equal Justice Council’s 15th Annual Awards and Recognition Breakfast yesterday at M&T Bank Stadium.

“Most of the cases my firm represents are for little people,” said Crump, who is chairman of the board of Legal Services of North Florida (a sister organization of Maryland Legal Aid) and donated $1 million to its capital campaign. “You don’t do things for the result, but because it’s the right thing to do. As lawyers, we need to take our educations out to benefit people who need help—or that education means nothing. Our finest hour is taking the call. It’s about answering the bell when it’s not a popular thing to do—not only for paying clients, but for people who don’t have money.” The EJC is the private-bar fundraising arm of Maryland Legal Aid.

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Our Services

Services provided to low-income people include employment (getting illegally denied unemployment benefits and back pay and wages due), housing (preserving affordable housing, stopping illegal evictions from public and subsidized housing, advocating for the correction of substandard housing, preventing homelessness), income maintenance (helping those with disabilities avoid institutionalization, preserving or obtaining public benefits, overcoming denial of public benefits), juvenile (representing abused and neglected children), consumer (preventing foreclosure, helping homeowners bilked by foreclosure rescue scams, correcting credit ratings, stopping dept-collection activity, overcoming illegal or unfair sales contracts, avoiding utility terminations), health (helping sick children and the elderly get medical assistance, helping seniors get Medicaid assistance so they can live in their communities), family (making sure custodial parents don't lose custody of their children, helping abused women obtain custody, divorce and alimony), farmworkers (educating and representing farmworkers regarding their employment rights and educating service providers, government and the public about farmworkers' rights and needs), and education (helping children get special education services to which they are entitled, avoiding illegal or unfair school suspensions and obtaining correct school records).

Pitch a Poverty Story to Your Editor.

Legal Aid is fielding a record number of calls from reporters. Suddenly, poverty is hot. Could it be it’s because so many middle-class people are slipping into poverty? Here’s why you should pitch your editor a poverty story: You’ll learn a lot about public benefits (such as food stamps, unemployment benefits and foreclosure prevention), meet some of our formidable experts…and gain expertise that could come in handy.
Cynical? You bet. I used to be a reporter.

Some Stats…

In 2011, Maryland Legal Aid helped 70,000 of our neediest citizens with their civil legal needs at no charge to them. Due to funding limitations, we are able to help only 20 percent of those who are financially eligible for our services.